European Jewish body denies ‘threat’ to expel Board of Deputies over sex abuse row

A European Jewish body has denied it has threatened to expel Britain’s Board of Deputies in a row over sexual abuse allegations against a Ukrainian rabbi.

The European Jewish Congress said it is “completely untrue” to say an expulsion was being considered after the Board suspended its own membership in May.

EJC president Ariel Muzicant said last week that it would “consider the mentioned suspension as a withdrawal” if it was not retracted, Haaretz reported.

Board president Marie van der Zyl is understood to have demanded an internal investigation into allegations against Rabbi Yaakov Bleich, the EJC’s treasurer.

When the request was refused, she announced the Board had suspended its relationship with the EJC.

This week there were calls in Britain for the Board to “preempt any move to expel it and leave of its own accord”.

Joe Millis, deputy for Bromley Reform Synagogue in south London, said: “The fact that the EJC’s other affiliates haven’t said anything says more about them than the Board’s moral stance.”

The detail of the accusations against Bleich are unclear although the Jerusalem Post reported they concerned “sexual abuse of women and children”.

Bleich, a Ukrainian chief rabbi, did not respond to Jewish News requests for comment, but he has previously denied the claims.

The EJC refused to comment on the allegations against Rabbi Bleich.

It told Jewish News that the Board of Deputies had unilaterally suspended its membership “before even having the courtesy to inform other Jewish umbrella organisations in Europe, who were their sister affiliates.”

A spokesperson said the EJC had written to the Board suggesting an end to its suspension: “It was not a threat but a request for clarification. Not a single other affiliate among our over 40 national Jewish community umbrella organisations have supported the BOD’s action.

“As long as the BOD remains in its self-imposed exile, it would be inappropriate to share private decisions taken at a meeting of an organisation of which it has declared itself not currently active.”

The Board of Deputies declined to comment.